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Copyright, 1886, 

by 

D. Lothrop & Company. 



PRESSWORK BY BERWICK & 6MITH, BOSTON. 



WONDERFUL CHRISTMASES OF OLD. 



IT had been a day of Rome in her glory, — the Saturnalia. Through 
the imperial streets had passed grand pageants. Aurelian had 
returned from his conquests. The Temple of Janus was closed ; 
banners of peace filled the air. Aurelian feasted in the Capitol. At 
the table sat nobles and peasants ; all were equal on that one day. 

Let us turn to the gloomy quarries under the Campagna. Along 
the Appian Way of monuments and palaces, in removing the stone for 
building, there had been created countless caverns, where from early 
periods criminals had taken refuge. Latterly these cells had been secretly 
used as chapels by the persecuted Christians ; and here to-night, hard by 
the blazing and drunken city, these proscribed men and women were 
gathering to celebrate the birth of the Lord. Torches flamed on the 
damp walls, revealing the rude inscriptions on many a martyr's tomb. 



After the Feast of Charity, an old man rose in their midst, — the ven- 
erable Alexander. His name was on the list of the condemned for whom 
the Eoman officers were seeking. He pointed upward : " The roof of 
stone hides the stars, but they shine ; and they that turn many to 
righteousness shall shine as the stars of heaven. I know that when the 
Saturnalia passes, I shall be given to the beasts. But the hosts of the 
righteous shall increase, shining in their beauty, and Bethlehem's Star 
shall never set." 

Even so. When the Saturnalia came again, and the Christians 
gathered again in the stone chambers to celebrate the birth of Jesus, on 
the martyrs' record along the smoky walls were set new names, among 
them the aged Alexander's. 

But a clear and holy light, as from the remembrance of the 
unshaken faith in which their brethren died, rested upon every face. 
The places of the martyrs were filled. Men, women, and consecrated 
youth, swelled the host that gathered to keep the birth-night of the 
Christ. The Star of Bethlehem shone steadily over heathen Rome. 




CATACOMBS, A.D. 



ROME has suffered mighty changes. It is no longer the Rome of 
Aurelian, no longer the temple-place of heathen gods. 

But the Bethlehem Star still shines. 

More than three hundred years have now passed away since its 
mysterious ray led the Magi to the Redeemer's cradle. Constantine, 
Rome's emperor now, has seen the failure of the gods of Rome and 
Athens. He has been forced to ponder, forced to believe that the faith 
of the persecuted Christians in a God, one and invisible, and in his 
Crucified Son, may be the true faith of the world. 

In this year, 312, he had seen the Vision which was to change the 
state of the world. That ancient historian who received the narrative 
from Constantine's own declaration, thus describes this most wonderful 
event of Christian History : 

The army arriving near Rome, the emperor was employed in devout ejaculations. 
It was the twenty-seventh of October, about three o'clock in the afternoon, the sun 
was declining, when there suddenly appeared a pillar of light in the heavens in the 
form of a cross, with this plain inscription : 

In hoc Signo vinces. [In this sign thou shalt conquer.] 



The emperor was amazed. The cross and sign blazed before the eyes of the 
whole army. 

Early the next morning, Constantine informed his officers that Christ had appeared 
to him in the night, with the cross in his hand, and commanded him to make the 
cross the royal standard. The officers were ordered to construct a cross, and a 
standard. The standard was made thus : 

A long spear, plated with gold, with a transverse piece at the top, in the form of 
a cross, to which was fastened a four-square purple banner, embroidered with gold, 
and beset with precious stones which reflected the highest lustre ; above the cross was 
a crown overlaid with gold and jewels, within which was placed the sacred symbol, 
the two first letters of the name of Christ in Greek. 

Under this standard, October 29, 312, Constantine defeated the 
Roman Emperor, Maxentius, on the banks of the Tiber. He entered 
Rome in triumph, bearing aloft the cross. The Christians hailed it 
with acclamations, and a joyful public Christmas followed. 

The Saturnalia became the Festival of the Nativity. 

The ancient pagan shrines vanished, or they glowed with the holy 
lights of the new and triumphant faith — the beautiful Bethlehem Star 
shining over all. 




THE VISION OF CONSTANTINE, A.D. 312. 



NEW temples have arisen in Eome. They uplift the cross. The 
golden season of the Saturnalia comes and goes ; but the Festival 
of Christ is celebrated instead. Rome is filled with holy rejoicing, 
the Roman children sing of the Star of Bethlehem, masses are chanted 
— the heathen festival has become Christmas. 

The Church, mighty in its faith, is praying for the conversion of the 
world. Missionaries go forth into all the provinces of the vast Roman 
Empire. 

About the year 432, St. Patrick made a holy journey. He came to 
Ireland. He found the people idolaters, worshipping under the oaks, 
their bards and poets ignorant of the true God ; and as St. Patrick was 
a singing prophet and teacher, the simple folks of Ireland, ever deeply 
stirred by song and eloquence, listened to him. They were moved by 
the beautiful story of Christ, and the hope of an eternal life. Thou- 
sands were baptized into the new faith. Churches sprang up over the 
green land as if by magic. St. Patrick preached in Ireland for some 
thirty years, and we cannot wonder that the Irish people still recall his 
mission with love, and speak of him with reverence. 



The scene of his greatest triumph was Tara. There he instituted 
the wonderful Christmas festivals of Rome. There his grand missionary 
anthems were inspired. According to tradition, he first sang his memor- 
able hymn, Christ he with me, on one of the religious Christmases, in the 
royal halls of Tara. It is a rapture of devotion and consecration : — 

To Tara to-day may the strength of God pilot me, 

May the power of God preserve me ; 

May the wisdom of God instruct me ; 

May the eye of God view me ; 

Ma}* the ear of God hear me ; 

May the word of God make me eloquent; 

May the hand of God protect me ; 

May the way of God direct me ; 

May the shield of God defend me ; 

Christ be with me, 

Christ on my right hand, 

Christ on my left hand, 

Christ in the heart of all to whom I speak, 

Christ in the mouth of all who speak to me, 

Christ in the eye of all who see me, 

Christ in the ear of all who hear me. 




ST. PATRICK AT TARA, A.D. 432. 



THERE lived in Geneva, near the close of the fifth century, a most 
beautiful Christian girl. She was called the loveliest woman in 
the world. She was also beautiful in character, and speut her 
time in works of charity. 

Clovis, King of the Franks, heard of the beauty of Clotilde. Accord- 
ing to the old story, he sent a noble Roman, Aurelian, commissioning 
him, if he found her loveliness as great as her fame, to woo her for him, 
and bring her to Rheims, the Frankish capital. Aurelian went to Geneva 
clothed in rags. He appeared before the fair Clotilde as a beggar. 
She received him with pity. Kneeling, she began to wash his feet. 

"Lady," said Aurelian, "I would speak to thee. I am no mendi- 
cant," said he. "I am a king's ambassador. King Clovis desires to 
make thee his queen. Wilt thou take and wear this ring?" 

Clotilde put upon her finger the jewel of Clovis ; and by the act 
she made the France of the future one of the Christian empires of the 
world. 

In 496, a German army crossed the Rhine, warring upon Clovis. 
The great battle of Cologne was fought. At a point of the battle, the 



Franks were in much peril. Clovis called upon his gods. But the 
danger of defeat grew — the Franks were hard pressed. Then Aurelian, 
who had won for Clovis his beautiful wife, cried : " Call on the God 
whom the queen preacheth, my lord King ! " 

Clovis lifted his face toward the sky. " Christ Jesus, thou whom 
my queen calleth the Son of the Living God, if thou wilt help, I will 
proclaim thy name, and be baptized ! " prayed this king. 

The Germans were beaten, their king slain. 

There was a grand Christmas in Bheims, 496. It celebrated the 
conversion of the Franks. The way from the palace to the baptistery 
was hung in silk and gold. The clergy led the way with crosses and 
standards, reading the gospels and chanting psalms. Then came the 
bishop, leading the king by the hand, and followed by the meek and 
beautiful queen. The king and royal household were baptized, and an 
army of three thousand Franks, and a multitude of women and chil- 
dren. The stars beamed brightly that night over Gaul and the Rhine. 
The Star of Bethlehem shone in its holy place. The kingdoms of 
earth were becoming the kingdoms of Christ. 




THE BAPTISM OF CLOVIS, RHEIMS, A.D. 496. 



IN the ancient cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle, France, there is a tomb of 
wonderful historic interest. The traveller thinks of it as he enters 
the solemn edifice, and beholds in the dim distance the chancel 
oriel burning with mysterious splendors. 

" Carlo-Magno," reads the inscription. It is the tomb of an 
emperor, one of the greatest who ever wore the crown of the Caesars 
— Charlemagne ! 

He was King of the Franks, of the peoples of Middle Europe and 
the nations of the North ; he conquered the Saxons, and in tremendous 
struggles defeated all foes, until at last the Alps and the Baltic, the 
Ehine and the Rhone, were alike parts of his splendid empire. He" 
conquered the Saracens of the South ; he added crown to crown, king- 
dom to kingdom, until Europe lay at his feet. 

At the Easter Festival in 774, he visited Rome in splendor. A 
great procession came out to meet him, headed by the Pope. The 
people hailed him with hallelujahs, the children waved green branches, 
the clergy in princely vestments sang: "Blessed is he that cometh in 
the name of the Lord!" 



In the year 800 lie was summoned to Eome. The cardinals said : 
"Let us honor this most powerful Defender of the Faith with a grand 
Christmas gift — the crown of the Roman world." 

The Pope and clergy prepared for Christmas ceremonies of the most 
joyous and imposing character. It was arranged that though Charle- 
magne should reach Rome before Christmas, he should have no knowl- 
edge of the coronation that awaited him. The clergy, nobles, and 
people were to assemble. When he should come into the church to 
attend mass, and should bow his head to receive the wafer — then he 
should be suddenly crowned and hailed Emperor of the World. 

It was one of the most poetic events of history. The Christmas 
day came, a beautiful day out of the skies of Italy. The Emperor 
entered the church in humility, and bowed before the altar. Suddenly, 
Pope Leo uplifted the crown of the Roman world, and set it upon his 
head. There arose then a great shout of joy. Clergy and nobles 
exclaimed in unison : " Long live Charles Augustus, Crowned of God, 
Emperor of the Romans ! " Christianity possessed Europe now. The 
Bethlehem Star, shining its eight centuries, lighted all the lands. 




THE CHRISTMAS CROWNING OF CHARLEMAGNE. A.D. 8oo, 



CHRISTMAS has been an eventful day in English history. 
English life and literature are alike full of reference to William 
of Normandy ; to-day proud English nobles boast that their 
ancestors came over with the Conqueror. The conquest of England by 
William reads like romance. He left the fair-skied duchy of Nor- 
mandy in September, 1066. His fleet, gay with pennants and gonfa- 
lons, numbered a thousand sails. His own ship had silken sails of 
many colors, made by his duchess and her Norman maidens. On its 
prow a gold boy pointed towards England. Its banner was three Nor- 
man lions. 

Young Harold, the English king, prepared to resist the invasion. 
William landed his army and marched to Hastings. Here the two 
armies met. The English forces, all-confident, passed the night before 
the battle in feasting, young Harold little dreaming that this revel 
under the October moon would be his last banquet. In the morning 
Duke William rode forth from the Norman camp on a beautiful 
Barbary horse. The standard of the Three Norman Lions was borne 
after him. His army advanced, singing the great war-song of Roland. 



The fight began early on that golden October day. William's beau- 
tiful horse was killed. His soldiers, supposing their king wounded, 
wavered. " I am living," cried Duke William, " and I will conquer ! " 
And that night the standard of the Three Norman Lions waved over 
the field. Young Harold was found dead. His body was identified by 
one who loved him, the swan-necked Edith. " Infelix Harold" they 
inscribed on his tomb. 

William hastened to Westminster to be crowned while the conquered 
people were helpless through fear. It was a Christmas Day. The 
English in London had expected to celebrate the festival in the Abbey, 
but the Conqueror demanded the church for his coronation. He sur- 
rounded it with battalions of Normans. He entered it with his barons, 
and the coronation rites began. The ceremony was interrupted by a 
tumult without that ended in a slaughter of his new English subjects. 

But the Christmas crown of England did not bring joy to the Con- 
queror. He is said to have been a most unhappy and remorseful man. 

Dark were those days; but the Star of Peace and Good Will was 
still shining. 




THE CORONATION OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR, A.D. 1 066. 



THROUGH the darkness the Christmas Star still breaks its way 
onward. For England there was a long, gloomy period. King 
John — that Herod who doomed Prince Arthur, that English 
Innocent, to be murdered because the boy had the right to the throne 
— was ever an oppressive and bloody man; and at last the English 
barons agreed to compel him to give a promise that their rights should 
be recognized and protected. This revolt of the barons against their 
king was the beginning of English liberty. They met on November 20, 
1213. They placed their hands upon an altar and solemnly swore, one 
after another, that should King John refuse to grant a Charter of Rights, 
they would not only withdraw their allegiance, but they would wage war 
against him. This act was the English Declaration of Independence. 

The king was soon shown a sign of their feeling. Christmas Day 
came. King John waited in vain at his royal hall in "Worcester for 
the barons to come and pay him the customary Christmas homage. It 
was a day of dark moment to him. At night glad Christmas lights 
blazed in many an old baronial castle, but the glory had departed from 
the halls of the tyrant king. He read his impending fate in the silence 



and gloom. He fled to London. He shut himself up in the fortress of 
the Templars. But the barons followed him there. On the day of 
Epiphany, they haughtily presented themselves — not with allegiance, 
but with demands for the Charter. "Give me until Easter to consider 
this," the king said at last with paling face. 

At Easter the barons again appeared before him. "Why do they 
not ask for my crown?" he said. "I will not grant them liberties 
that would make me a slave," he added angrily. 

The barons summoned their knights. The king found himself 
deserted alike by his nobles and his people. After gloomy delay, "I 
will grant the Charter," he said sullenly ; and he grudgingly named 
time and place, Runnymede, June 15. 

That day became famous in English history, for King John, how- 
ever grudgingly, kept his word. 

Four centuries later, on another Christmas Day, 1688, the English 
Parliament called the wise and good William, Prince of Orange, to 
accept the English crown. So, through the years, light and gladness 
were growing for the people. 




AT RUNNYMEDE, A.D. 121 



THE first "Still Christmas" in England occurred in 1525. Henry 
the Eighth was king, and he had not yet forfeited the respect of 
his subjects ; but great political events were at hand. 

In December the King was sick. The nation was filled with 
anxiety. It was decided that the Christmas should be a silent one ; 
there were no carols, bells, or merry-makings. 

Silent Christmases were proclaimed in the Protectorate of Cromwell. 
The festival was altogether abolished, and the display of the emblems 
of the Nativity was held to be seditious. 

The change was most notable in London. There was silence on the 
Strand. The church bells were still. St. Paul lifted its white roofs 
over the Thames, and Westminster Abbey its towers, but the tides of 
happy people in holiday attire no more poured in and out of those 
ancient fanes. The holly and ivy no more appeared in the windows of 
the rich and the poor. The Yule fires were not kindled, nor the carols 
sung. 

Bells indeed rung out on the frosty air, but how different from the 
chimes of old ! They were the hand-bells of the heralds, in simple 



garb, passing from street to street, and smiting the air and crying out : 
" No Christmas ! No Christmas ! " 

Heads filled the windows and figures the doors. Crowds stopped on 
the corners of the streets and in the squares. The cry went on : " No 
Christmas ! No Christmas ! " 

It smote the hearts of those who loved the old ways and customs. 
But the spirit of the time was not lost. In the silence of the long 
procession of English festivals, the law of Christ was not the less 
obeyed. It was a period of great morality and fruitful piety. A 
period when the nation was conscientious and strong. The Star of 
Bethlehem was still shining. 

A great change followed the Restoration. The Christmas bells rung 
out once more. The waits again sung their carols at the gates of the 
old feudal halls. There were merry-makings under the evergreens. It 
was at one of the Court Christmases of these years that Charles 
knighted a loin of beef, and gave it the name of " Sir Loin." The 
festival in the days of this "merrie monarch" became a revel, after 
the Puritan silence. 




"NO CHRISTMAS! NO CHRISTMAS !" — IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 



A GENOESE mariner believes himself born to cany the gospel of 
Christ to an unknown people and an undiscovered world, a 
world lying in the mysterious waters of the West. He travels 
from city to city seeking a powerful patron, until at Santa Fe, in the 
South of Europe, takes place the memorable meeting with the king 
and queen of Spain. 

With an equipment of three ships he looses from Palos, and sails 
to the mysterious waters whose secret shores no eye has seen. Golden 
days come and go ; nights of calm, and new stars. Near midnight on. 
the 11th of October, 1492, he sees a light in the far horizon, knows 
his destiny accomplished, is sure God has fulfilled the prophetic mean- 
ing of his name — Columbus, the seeking dove. Morning comes; the 
New World stands revealed ; he leaps on shore, unfurls the banner and 
cross of Castile, and sings Te Deums. 

The missionary mariner sails away again. He discovers Hispaniola, 
and here he and his followers offer the first Christmas devotions in the 
New World. Santa Fe, on the Rio Grande, was probably the place 
where the first Christmas anthem was sung; hi our own land. Coronado 



visited the region in search of the Seven Cities of Gold almost one hun- 
dred years before the Mayflower sailed into the Christmas-tide storm of 
Provincetown Bay. The Franciscan missionaries soon followed Coronado. 
How poetic must have been the first Christmases in the new-born 
town ! The mission church is surrounded with mountains whose sum- 
mits are covered with eternal snow. The sun of the fitful December 
day goes down, leaving every peak a colossal monument of light and 
splendor. Evening's curtains fall. It is vespers. Down the light 
ladders of the pueblos come the descendants of a race unknown, and 
make their way to the church. Music tells the tale of the Virgin and 
the Child. Then arises the Gloria, and it floats out, like a breath 
from the Bethlehem angels over the mighty solitudes that are to 
become the habitations of the dominant race of the world. The moon 
rises over the mountains, and turns into whiteness pueblos and chapel. 
In the bright air stands the mystic sign of the cross like a shadow, 
and there ascends heavenward in the silence the sweet words, in the 
Latin tongue, " On earth, peace." The Star that shone over Bethlehem 
and the nations of the East, has risen upon the West. 




FE. — IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 



SO the Christmas Days of the New World begin. Champlaiii died 
in the Castle of St. Louis, Quebec, on Christmas Day. The 
French Christians celebrated the day at Port Royal, Canada, and 
in all the settlements of New France. 

The Christmas of the Mayflower was a doubtful and dreary day — 
a day of toil and hardship. Christmas night brought a storm of high 
wind and rain, the vessel tossed, and although Puritans in sentiment 
and life, the Pilgrims must, at the evening Bible-reading, have thought 
of the sweet chimes of Lincoln, the white-crowned towers of the 
brightly-lighted English fanes, and the glad household festivals of the 
home-country. 

In the Chronicles of the Pilgrims may be found the following 
extract : 

Munday the 25th clay we went on shore to fell some timber, some to rive (hew), 
and some to carry. So no man rested all that day. 

Munday the 25th, being Christmas Day, we began to drink water aboard, but at 
night the Master caused us to have some Beere, and so on board we had diverse 
times now and then some Beere, but on shore none at all. 



The Pilgrims were severely temperate, but on the rocking ship, with 
the wind beating against, and the rain freezing upon the masts, the 
Master of the ship, his heart warming with the memory of the merry 
Christmases of Old England, proffered to his stern and sorrowful pas- 
sengers the best cheer he had at command. To this, it would seem, 
Carver, Bradford, Winslow and Standish did not object, although they 
would not allow their men to pass the Christmas in idleness and ease, 
when some of the men asked for a rest on the ancient holiday. We 
may imagine the scene under the swinging ship-lamp of that tempes- 
tous night, and we must feel a thrill of friendliness and gratitude towards 
the Master of the vessel in whose heart stirred the Christmas sentiment, 
even if it could find no other expression than a draught of "beere." 

There were dark and silent Christmases in the times of the Puri- 
tans. But the natural joy and glad observance of the gladdest event 
in the annals of earth soon began to grow; and now, under the light 
of the Bethlehem Star which rose eighteen centuries ago, all we in the 
wide West keep Christmas. 

Shine on forever, Star ! 




IN THE CABIN OF THE MAYFLOWER, A.D. 1620. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS! 



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